Abstract:
Antisolvent crystallization is commonly used to study the effect of solvents
to the behaviors of the polymorphic crystallization and transformation. Antisolvents
can affect the product of crystallization and may promote the crystallization of
specific polymorph. In this study, L-histidine (L-his) was used as a model substance.
Acetonitrile, acetone, and methanol were used as antisolvents, and water was used as
a solvent. The solubility and the behaviors of the antisolvent crystallization and the
solution-meadiated polymorphic transformation (SMPT) were studied. The induction
time for antisolvent crystallization and the nucleation rate of the metastable form B
were also measured.
The solubility of polymorph B of L-his decreased with increasing volume
fraction of antisolvent and increased with increasing temperature. Induction time
decreased with higher supersaturation and antisolvent volume fraction, indicating that
the nucleation rate of L-his in antisolvent crystallization increases with higher
supersaturation, and antisolvent volume fraction. At all temperature studied, pure
polymorph B of L-his was obtained at higher antisolvent volume fraction (XV ≥ 0.7)
and supersaturation while a mixture of polymorphs A and B were obtained at lower
antisolvent volume fraction and supersaturation. Transformation times depend on the
fraction of form A that obtained at the initial stage of crystallization. The
transformation rate of the metastable polymorph B into the stable polymorph A at
lower antisolvent volume fraction is faster than at higher antisolvent volume fraction.
Measured nucleation rates of polymorph B indicate that the mechanism of nucleation
is the heterogeneous nucleation. The lower nucleation rate indicates the shorter
transformation time.